The Takasaki Light Railway
The Daruma Line
What follows is a list of some of the websites I have visited that have given me inspiration. I would recommend any of these as sources of artistic or technical knowhow.
I've listed wesites loosely by continents (yes, I know England isn't a continent but it thinks it is)
1) Great Britain 2) Australia & New Zealand 3) America 4) Europe
5) In Japan 6) Not my scene but... 7) Other stuff! 8) Yahoo groups
The Links
Back in Blighty!
In no particular order are the following inspirational railways:
The Scampington and Chipside Garden Railway. Clive Tucker's lovely website. It has hundreds of photos ploting the construction of the railway. The 4minute video seems to have been shot by three cameramen! Don't miss the motive power page to get a look at a 'must have' battered and beaten 'Baldrick'.
The Wendover Light Railway Keith Brown's fantastic site with plenty of things to learn.
The Cobbybrook Light Railway. Some great 'How to' articles.
The Haggerleases Light Railway. Inspiration on every page! Makes you want to get in the garden and get stuck in.
Andy Coward's Public Gallery. 96 or so wonderful photos of a very realistic railway!
Rob Bennett's Photo Gallery. Of BusyBodies fame, Rob's railway and figures are sure to inspire.
The Compton Down Railway. This is Peter Jones' gorgeous railway. Get the book! (Practical Garden Railways)
The Mawnan & Helford Light Railway. Pete Clarke's garden railway is growing at a blinding pace.
The Rea Valley Light Railway. This is Peter Longfils' lovely railway with tons of scratch built stuff!
The Pimlico Tramway. Peter's railway is an inspiration, especially his real (scale) buildings.
The Morton Pit Light Railway. Darkest Essex has a secret to tell...
The Clynnog & Nantlle Light Railway. Built by Sam Lester & Willian Curry
The Maesffordd & Nant-Gorris Railway. Lots to see, read and be very envious of...go see what I mean.
Brambleton Model Railway Club In my home town of Harpenden, now with a SM32 lime.
Down Under
Sandstone & Termite Railway. Greg Hunter's extensive and very pleasing garden railway in Loftus, Sydney, Australia. All kinds of tips from construction and control to sound electronics. He has an immense amount of photos to look through. Go and have a look, and take your time.
Squirrel Valley Railway. A garden Railway in New Zealand. Take time to read the HISTORY page.
The Toenail Ridge Shortline. An Australian but US inspired line. Lots of 'How to' articles.
Shishi-ga-tani (Deer Valley) Light Rail Toshi Yoshioka, a true master modeller in Sydney, Australia, shows how anything can be done - and done very well!
Over the pond (That means the US)
The Kalaloch Estate Railway (7/8ths). Best source for loco projects.
Narrow Escape (7/8ths). Pure inspiration!
7/8ths Scale Narrow Gauge. Loads of info, easily adaptable to all scales.
The Lake Town & Shire Railroad. A very nice U.S. railway with a large LINKS page.
Chris's Creations. Chris Walas invents the most wierd and wonderful things you can only begin to imagine.
Bill Lackford This is a site with some fantastic model buildings. Int eriors are fully detailed. Go and look, drool and say 'I want one!'
Painting & Weathering Techniques A variety of pages on weathering model railway stuff.
Locomotive of the month Marc Horowitz has an impressive museum of livev stean locomotives here.
Europe (but not the UK)
The Körschtalbahn 7mm narrow gauge in the depths of the Black Forest.
Andy lives in Stuttgart, Germany and has a unique slant on the local railways there! Read all about the history of the area or check out how the layout is coming along.
In Japan
These are links that will take you on a short journey around some of the great railway related sites in Japan.
The Japanese Railway Society: A bit of everything really. All related to Japanese railways.
Japan Railway & Transport Review: Learn some of the history of railways in Japan.
Ichiban: Lots of links to railways in Japan.
Human Powered Railways: That's right, carriages being pushed along by people!
The Akubi Lightweight Railway: Hiroshi Mori's enormous website devoted to garden railways, ride-on and smaller. This has to be a bookmark for your computer. You can read the English or Japanese version too!
Suppliers
Here is a short list of suppliers that have items available for 16 mm scale railway related modelling:
Hand Crafted Pottery Buildings
Maplin
Not strictly my scene (but lot of fun!)
1. Clockwork in the Garden. Just go and have a look, you will be charmed.
2. Chassis for a Tyro. Technical stuff on how to...
3. Sodor Island. 'Thomas' and where the ideas came from.
4. Building a Garden Railroad on a budget. Some good tips that have stopped me spending.
5. GN15. Not my scale but a site full of 'How to' articles with lots of character.
6. Feldbahn-Modelbau: Marcel Ackle's railway site, take time to investigate. Don't worry if you can't read the words, you will surely enjoy the pics.
When I get time to surf the net I often have a look at what is going on over the pond (the pacific in my case). Some of the US 'railroads' have real character, small mining lines with 'critters' pulling rakes of trucks. There are some great sites with advice on planting, things which work well here in Japan too. My personal interest is in lines with a local feel, you know what I mean, wandering through the dappled shade of encroaching gnarled and knotty trees. The friendly welcome of a country line just breaking even, bringing with it the romance of a time fondly remembered. As I surf the web, I always keep in mind what would fit my railway and also how others have done what they've done.
Magazines and ...
This section is about the magazines and such associated with the hobby
Garden Railways Magazine: The US magazine for all things to do with garden railways. Mostly American but many members are from other countries which makes the forums often interesting. What a shame GardenRail doesn't have a site like this!
The Industrial Railway Record: A treasure chest of info in industrial lines in England and a few other countries, most of which are no more. My favourite is the Guinness Brewery Tramway.
The Self Site: It doesn't sound very railwaylike but please have a look. This has a wealth of unusual locos for your inspection.
Real Stories Database: Ever wondered where all those Thomas stories came from? Wonder no more...
WagonFlow4: Information on scales and gauges.
Robin Barnes - Railway Art & History: A great source of train art.
Steam Pencil: This is the site for the railway art of Peter Barnfield. Whimshire lives and grows in our imaginations, through these fantastic illustrations. You just have to get some for yourself!
Yahoo Groups
These are the Yahoo groups that I go to for a chat or from which to get a bit of inspiration:
16mmngm - 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers
Low_Cost_Garden_Railways - Low Cost Garden Railways
NGgarden - Narrow Gauge Railways in the Garden
JRForum - Discussion in the English language about scale models of Japanese trains.
gardenrailways - Garden Railways